Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares was recently interviewed by MetalSucks.net regarding the current drama surrounding the band and their GoFundMe campaign. That campaign set out to raise $25,000 for the completion of the group’s new album, which they recorded several years ago.
That effort, which was announced back in 2018 by frontman Burton C. Bell as being titled “Monolith“, was eventually shelved due to the band’s internal legal disputes over their trademarks. Several weeks back Cazares announced that his involvement in those legal disputes had been resolved and that he had ‘won’ his part in them.
Shortly after the GoFundMe campaign was launched, Bell publicly distanced himself from it, calling it a ‘scam’ on social media, while also stating he had no part in it.
Since then Cazares has disputed Bell‘s assessment, revealing that despite the album (and Bell‘s parts for it) having being ‘completed’ in 2017, he felt the need to go back and re-track the guitars and bass parts himself and add live drums by Mike Heller. He also involved several guests and intended to put the GoFundMe campaign funds towards those costs as well as the mixing and mastering, etc. costs.
While Fear Factory remain signed to Nuclear Blast, Cazares has also since explained on social media that the band had already exceeded their advance on the record due to the additional new costs, hence the GoFundMe campaign.
Interestingly, in the above-mentioned newly published interview, Cazares reveals that he and Bell have not talked in over a year, offering:
“I’ve reached out to him but maybe he’s too busy doing Ascension Of The Watchers. I’ve heard him make statements saying that he’s not talking about Fear Factory and that he only wants to talk about Ascension Of The Watchers. That’s the impression that I’m getting.”
Bell himself is gearing up for the new Ascension Of The Watchers album “Apochrypha“, out October 09th. In a painfully ironic twist, Bell endured some unfortunate crowdfunding troubles of his own in the past.
Speaking of Bell‘s decision to announce the new Fear Factory album back in 2018 without Cazares‘ knowledge, Cazares offered:
“At that time [in 2018] it was court ordered that we legally could not use the name Fear Factory to solicit any products like merchandising, CDs, touring etc… talking about it in public could potentially cause legal damage, and later it did. It for sure caused confusion with our fans, especially when I didn’t know about the title, art or it even being called Fear Factory.”
Speaking to MetalSucks in this recent interview, Cazares revealed that he currently legally holds 100% control of the current Fear Factory rights, stating “I have all the legal rights to Fear Factory.” He would go on to reveal that not only were Bell and former members Christian Olde-Wolbers and Raymond Herrera involved in a legal dispute over trademarks, but that Cazares was also the defendant in a separate lawsuit launched by the Olde-Wolbers and Herrera as well.
Cazares would later confirm that there was never any litigation explicitly between him and Bell amid the legal disputes. Bell himself had of course been seeking control of the band’s trademarks as part of his legal dispute.
Despite the apparent tension that exists, now given the recent social media posts from Burton, Cazares still views Bell as being a current member of the band, offering:
“Yes, I am sole owner of the name and trademark, but that doesn’t mean Burton can’t be right there with me, too. It means that we continue and keep working our asses off and making great music for people to hear.”
Cazares also appears to hold no animosity towards Bell, despite his lack of communication and social media comments, stating “all I have is love and respect for the guy.” Should Bell actively ‘return’ to the fold, it will be so under welcoming terms business wise. When quizzed if Bell would be viewed as a salaried employee going forward, Cazares said: “Why can’t it be equal like we’ve had it before? Why can’t it? To me that hasn’t changed.”
You can read more from Cazares and the intricacies of the legal dispute and its eventual resolution over at MetalSucks.net.
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